- Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration set up Stephen Oronsaye Committee to look into the bloated civil service
- 12 years after, mixed reactions mount Bola Tinubu’s administration set to implement the recommendations of the Orosanye Report
- FG allays fear of job loss over implementation of the Report
On Monday, February 26, 2024 the Executive Council of the Federation, also known as the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the implementation of the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye panel on the restructuring and rationalization of Federal agencies, parastatals and commissions.
This is coming more than a decade after the report was submitted to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.
The Bola Ahmed Tinubu government said the implementation of the policy as recommended by the report involves the merging, subsuming and scrapping of agencies with similar functions.
According to Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, the measure became necessary to enhance efficiency in the federal service, and subsequently reduce the cost of governance.
In his words, “the Oronsaye report was submitted in 2012 to the Goodluck Jonathan administration. In 2014, the Jonathan government released a white paper on the report. The Buhari administration after re-examining the white paper also released a second white paper in August 2022, but did not implement the report.
“However, the Tinubu administration has decided to confront the monster of high governance cost by implementing elements of the report.
“An eight-man committee has a 12-week deadline to ensure that the necessary legislative amendments and administrative restructuring needed to implement the reforms are effected in an efficient manner.
“The committee comprises Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Justice Minister, Budget and Planning Minister, DG Bureau of Public Service Reform, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Special assistant to the president on National Assembly. The Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as the secretariat.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, later shared a full list of the agencies to be affected.
Agencies, parastatals, departments that were affected
According to Abdulaziz, agencies to be scrapped are; Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate to be scrapped and functions transferred to the Federal Ministry of Finance, National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) to be scrapped and functions transferred to the department of Basic and Secondary Education in Federal Ministry of Education.
Again those to be merged are;. National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) to be merged under the Centre for Disease Control in Federal Ministry of Health, National Emergency Agency (NEMA) to be merged with National Commission Refugee, Migration and Internally Displaced persons [NCFRMI], Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) to be merged with Directorate of Technical Aid (DTAC) and to function as a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to be merged with Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE).
Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) to be merged with Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to be merged with National Centre for Agriculture Mechanization (NCAM) and Project Development Institute (PRODA).
Others are National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) to be merged with National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), National Institute for Leather Science Technology (NILEST) to be merged with National Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT). The Nomadic Education Commission (NEC) to be merged with National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non Formal Education.
Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN) to be merged with Voice of Nigeria (VON). The National Commission for Museums and Monuments to be merged with National gallery of Arts, The National Theatre to be merged with National Troupe of Nigeria. The National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC) to be merged with National Metallurgical Training Institute (NMTI), Nigerian Army University (NAUB) should be merged Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and .Airforce Institute of Technology (AFIT) should be merged Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA)
Also according to the Orosaye report, those to be subsumed include; Service Compact with all Nigerians (SERVICOM) to be subsumed to function as a department under Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission (NBC).
National Salaries, Income and Wages Commissioned (NSIWC) to be subsumed into Revenue Mobilization & Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC), Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be subsumed under Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Public Complains Commission (PCC) to be subsumed under National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis (NITR) to be subsumed into Institute of Veterinary Research (VOM).
Others include Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) to be subsumed under the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development(NIPRD), National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission to be subsumed under the administration of Nigerian Pension Commission (PenCom), The Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to be subsumed as a department in the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.
Finally those to be relocated are Niger Delta Powerholding Company (NDHC) to be relocated to Ministry of power, National Agricultural Land Development Agency [NALDA] to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, National Blood Service Commission to be converted into an Agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health and Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to be converted into an Agency and transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Reactions trail implementation of Oronsaye report
In any case, there has been divergent views on the implementation of Oronsaye report.
Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party has lauded the adoption of the Oronsaye report by President Bola Tinubu-led administration, saying he would also have implemented the report if he was President.
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that Obi stated this via his official X handle on Wednesday.
The former governor of Anambra state further asserted that implementing the report is one of the best ways to make governance efficient, cost-effective, and productive.
According to Obi, being in opposition does not warrant blind and thoughtless criticism, adding that whenever the government takes the right decision, Nigerians should agree and if need be, propose related or even better ideas to move the nation forward.
Full statement below:
I have received several text messages from people wanting to know if I would have implemented the Oronsaye Report, which full implementation has just been directed by the President. In response to their questions,
I would like to refer everyone to my Manifesto and my response to similar questions during my campaigns. On the 5th of October, 2022 at Havard University, I was asked: “Will you implement the Oronsaye Report?” and I responded in the affirmative.
I went further to explain that implementing the report is one of the best ways to make governance efficient, cost-effective, and productive. Being in opposition does not warrant blind and thoughtless criticism.
Whenever the government takes the right decision, we should agree and if need be, propose related or even better ideas to move the nation forward.
I have always been an advocate of the 3 critical components of the Oronsaye Report, which are: i) drastically cutting the cost of governance; ii) eliminating the overlapping of responsibilities to ensure that responsibilities are appropriately domiciled; and iii) increasing efficiency and effectiveness, which will increase productivity.
Although the implementation of the report is long overdue, its implementation is a welcome development so long as the decision is informed by these principles. Beyond implementing the Oronsaye Report, the government should go further and cut the cost of governance across board.
Having found it imperative to implement the Report, the government should now do away with the bogus and needless wastages of our scarce resources on frivolous issues, and deploy such funds to the critical areas of Education, Health, and pulling people out of poverty.
However, we must not rush to implement the Oronsaye Report just because those that will be directly affected are mostly civil servants. A very deep understanding of the workings of the Federal bureaucracy will be required to effectively implement the Report.
Grasping the symetries between the federal and the other tiers of government will be imperative as Federal agencies have branches and outreaches in all the 36 states.
We the political leaders, should be ready to back up such implementation with our sacrifices from comfort and selfishness, for the overall development of the nation.
In implementing this Report, conscious effort must be made to cushion the effects of such a major overhaul on the workers, to avoid driving more people into hardship, in these very challenging times.
Also Nigerians are yet to be informed about the extant White Paper pertinent to the report’s implementation. Moreover, you cannot ask those who are likely to be affected by the downsizing to manage the process.
Government must also show clearly the amount of resources to be saved in the implied shrinking of government. It should also indicate clearly where and how the saved resources are to be redeployed
More importantly, the implementation needs to be accompanied by a template to avoid a future bloating of government. By doing the right things and implementing the right policies, we will build the New Nigeria of our dreams.
Senator Shehu Sani on Oronsaye report
By and large, a former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has said that the Oronsaye Report is outdated and needed to be updated before implementation.
Sani stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
Sani said the report has become obsolete due to the proliferation of new agencies and commissions since its inception.
He said that legislators’ performance was often measured by the number of bills they sponsored or the creation of federal agencies and commissions resulting from their initiatives, thereby leading to a high number of federal agencies and commissions in the country.
Sani noted that the approach did not align with the country’s economic realities.
In his words, “Most of these commissions were created by the National Assembly. When you are elected into office as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives, one of the factors that they use to gauge your performance or stewardship in office is the number of bills you are able to sponsor, or the number of federal agencies that came out of your bills.
“And as such, you see every year, legislators come out with all sorts of ideas about commissions and agencies and boards and bureaus. But we don’t take cognizance of the fact that we are a poor country. A nation of 224 million people with such little resources.
“Some of the agencies that we created in this country are so irrelevant and useless. And it’s time that we implemented this report.
“But Oronsaye Report could have been updated. The President could have invited Oronsaye and his committee and said, ‘Update your report based on the new commissions and agencies that have been created after your report.’ Because as it’s now, the report is outdated.
“If you live in Abuja today, there’s hardly any street you will move without seeing an agency you never knew before. It’s either one commission on this or an agency on that.
“Now, look at the number of the agencies that came after Oronsaye Report. So if you look at what’s being done now, it’s simply ‘Let’s implement this without thinking that it has gone out of date.’
“So, the best thing now is to invite Oronsaye and ask him to update his report and then the government can implement it,” he said.
Fear of job loss in implementation of Oronsaye report
Since the recommendation of the FEC on the implementation of the Orosaye report, there has been palpable fear across the Federal Agencies, Parastastals on the possible loss of job to the implementation.
However, the Federal government has allayed fear of any job during the implementation of the report.
According to the Federal government, the Oronsaye Report, which seeks to rationalize government agencies and parastatals will not lead to mass retrenchments of workers as being feared.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris allayed the fear of job losses as a result of implementation of the Orosanye report in Abuja on Wednesday at the fourth edition of the Ministerial Press Briefing Series.
“The whole idea is that the government wants to reduce cost and also improve efficiency in service delivery. It does not mean that the government is out to retrench workers or throw people into the labour market,” he said.
Idris said the implementation of the report, which has been on the shelf for about 11 years, is a clear demonstration of President Tinubu’s unwavering commitment to fiscal prudence and responsible governance by championing a comprehensive review of the government‘s commissions, agencies, and parastatals.
He said the approval for the implementation of the Orosanye Report, which followed a very careful review, is to ensure that essential services are not compromised and that the needs of our citizens are adequately addressed while putting the interests of the nation first and foremost.
“Through the implementation of Oronsaye’s Report, President Tinubu aims to achieve significant cost savings by eliminating duplication of functions, streamlining administrative processes, and optimizing resource allocation. This proactive approach will enable the government to operate more efficiently while maintaining the quality and delivery of services to the Nigerian people,” he said.
The Minister, who said Nigerians are beginning to see the benefits of the reforms being spearheaded by the president in various sectors, stressed that reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that Nigeria witnessed a GDP growth of 3.46% in the fourth quarter of 2023 as against 2.54% recorded in the third quarter of 2023.
He added that the NBS report also states that capital importation rose to 66% in the fourth quarter of 2023, reversing a 36% decline in the third quarter. Petrol importation has been reduced by 50% since the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy, while the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index crossed the 100,000 mark – its highest ever.
He said the achievements being recorded in the economy were not merely a stroke of luck but mainly due to the pragmatic reforms initiated by the President, which inspired investor confidence in the Nigerian economy.
Minister said the President has also given a directive for the design of a Social Security Unemployment Programme to cater for the unemployed graduates as well as the setting up of a Social Consumer Credit Scheme to boost the purchasing power of Nigerians, as they make adjustments in view of the temporary economic hardship.
He said after the review of the National Social Investment Programme, the President has given approval for the resumption of the direct payments of N25,000 to 15 million households.